A True Challenge
by Marciac Moon
Summary: After upsetting her in class, Yang challenges Mercury to an epic duel.


**Author's Note: Just a short little drabble for a friend of mine! I hope you enjoy!**

"No way!"

"He doesn't know the answer, does he?!"

The blonde stared down her opponent, a cocky smirk gracing her lips as she twirled the card in her fingers. Her eyes shot back down to the question she had read to him.

 _In Greek mythology, what was the name of the titan who was given the responsibility of holding up the heavens on his shoulders?_

He hadn't spit-fired his answers, as he had with most of the past ten questions. He was genuinely concentrating, but he somehow managed to maintain the confident air about him. She couldn't help but wonder if he was stalling for the sake of a dramatic finish. He'd used up all of his cheats, and was on the million dollar question…

Well, they only had ten bucks on the winner, but still. This was a really intense game. And Yang was about to win. That is, if he answered incorrectly.

It had all started in one of the classes they shared. Grimm Studies with Professor Port. The class was dull as usual, and the added students hadn't added any flare. Time began to pass, unfathomably slow as usual, until Yang noticed that someone was answering all the questions the professor asked. And correctly. This made the brawler sit up and start paying rapt attention. The next time Professor Port asked a question, her hand shot into the air, startling Blake out of her snooze. The teacher seemed elated at her participation, but Yang only had eyes for the metal man in the front row.

 _Suck up._ She'd thought.

The class continued, each of them racing each other to answer the professor's inquiries. It wasn't until the end of class that things turned to the worse for Yang, "... and which of you can tell me what happens when a Grimm dies?" The blonde's hand shot into the air, remembering how she and Ruby had studied this earlier, "Yes, Yang?"

"They fade back into the environment again."

"... Uh, hem-hem, excuse me, that's incorrect. How about you, Mercury?"

Her face flushed with embarassment. Yang Xiao Long, wrong? On something she'd _studied?!_

She could hear the cheeky grin through his words, "They evaporate into the air, which prevents any kind of study on their dead bodies." Just as he finished his sentence, she caught his gaze. A glint in his eye, as if he was taunting her over his win.

As soon as the class was over, she stomped over to his desk, slamming her fist down hard enough to make the wood creak, "You, me, cafeteria, five." She didn't say anything else before leaving to her dorm to grab the board game.

She was actually surprised to see him in the cafeteria after that, "Wow, I thought you'd chicken out!"

"No way, I won't back down from a brawl," His gray eyes danced over to the box in her hands, "Wait, what's that for? Aren't we fighting?"

"Ohohoh, you bet we are," Yang said, slapping the box on the table in front of her, "This is a battle of wits!"

"Well, Mercury? Give up yet?" She asked, slamming a hand on the board and leaning over to squint at him.

"Please. I'm just relishing the moment. It's interesting to see you look so certain seconds before I crush you."

She squinted at him, poking her tongue out, "Alright then, if you're so sure, what's the answer?"

The small crowd surrounding them in the cafeteria went silent at her question, and all eyes were trained on the Haven student.

"Easy," He replied with a click of his tongue, "Helios."

She stared at him, eyes growing wide and face paling. Mercury's natural smirk only seemed bigger when he knew he had won.

" _WRONG!"_ Yang cried, pushing the card dangerously close to his face, "It's Atlas! Helios is the personification of the sun! And with that, _I win!"_

Mercury read the card in shock at her outburst as Yang pocketed the twenty dollars, "No way…"

"So, now you have to say it!" She leaned into her palms as she spoke.

"Noooo." He groaned, glaring at her, "I don't have to do anything you say."

"Aw, come on, Mercury! Don't ruin the game!"

He shot daggers at his partner, who'd been a witness to the entire ordeal. The little group surrounding them was eyeing him with obvious anticipation, "Ugh, fine!" He looked at the card in his hands and sighed, "I am _not_ smarter than a fifth grader!"

" _Woo hoo!"_ Yang cheered loudly, "Haven: zero, Beacon: one; take that! I'm smarter than a fifth grader and I have twenty dollars to prove it!" The blonde continued whooping and yelling down the halls back to her dorm, until her voice eventually left their range of hearing.

The crowd was silent for a bit, until Fox turned to Mercury, "Didn't she try to say that 'knight' and 'kite' began with the same sound?"

"She sure did."

"Vale's finest." Emerald commented dryly.


End file.
